Ball-vending machine



Dec. 23, 1930. J. E. CYRADDOCK 1,786,289

BALL VENDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 29, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 23, 1930. J. E. CRADDOCK BALL VENDING MACHINE F'iled Nov. 29, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Snow 01 JH/VE CFHDDOC/C 3 3911% @WWWM A' I [IA Fatented Dec. 23, 1930 JOHN E. cmnoox, orBRooKLyN, NEW YORK' BALL-vENnrNeM'AcHINE Application filed. November 29, 1929. Serial No. 410,455.

This invention relates to ball vendors and in particular to mechanisms of this character employed in connection with amusement games or other devices in conjunction with built that the balls are quickly dispensed and held in position for the player to readily use; the machine being foolproof and of such character that its parts will not r order.

My machine contemplates holding'shelf which acts a eadily get out of the use of a ball s a receiver for balls returned from the counting device of a game or after a play has been completed, the.

shelf being held in its ball receiving position until the operation of mechanism which is set in motion by the insertion of a coin, the

operation of the mechanism taking place very quicklyin order that no time will be lost in dispensing the balls to the player whereby a' maximum useoofv the machine in play is afforded. V

WVith the foregoing and other objects in view, which will appear asthe description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it beingunderstood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invent ion.

In the accompanying drawings: 7 Figure 1 1s a View 1n perspective of a ball vending machine constructed in accordance with my invention, the ball being clearly illustrated as pensing portion of'the mac receiving section;

well as the dishine.

. Figure 2 is an enlarged section taken-on the line 2+2 of Figure 1 and shows the rela-' tive arrangement of the op my mechanism.

crating parts of Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the end .of the machine illustrated in Figure 2, the

parts thereof being shown in section to illustrate therelative positions of the operating mechanism with relation to the ball holding shelf. f i

I of the machine.

Referringto the drawings in detail, 5 indicates generally the housing of my ball vending machine, the top of which may be sloped asat 6 and may have projecting therethrough, acoin slot 7 which, through the medium of a suitable flange'8 is secured to the top 6' of the housing. The housing is provided with an opening 9 at the front thereof and a portionof said opening is set ofi by the ballretaining strips 10 behind which are held, the balls 'tobe dispensed. The extended portion of the housing indicatedrby the numeral 11 encases the operating mechanism and use is made of a partition, 12, see Figure 3, to separate the ball part of the housing from the mechanism which carries out the ball dispensing opera] tion, the top of the mechanism chamber 13" being closed and the front thereof is arranged to receive a money drawer 14 which, through the medium of any suitable lock 15 may be secured in position, the end of the drawer 14 being disposed beneath the coin drop 7 so that after a coin'has been inserted and has performed its work, it will drop into the coin drawer 14' and may be rea dily removed by withdrawing the drawer. As illustrated in Figure 6, particularly, the balls are supported behind. the strips 10 through the medium of a shelf 16. which extends] substantially the entire length of the vending machine andpasses through a suitshelf 16 through the medium of suitable hinges 18 is hinged for pivotal movement to the lowermost strip 10 and balls coming in through a suitable chute 19, which has been shown in outline in Figure 6, it being understood that the balls may be introduced into the vending machine in any particular manner, will ride down the inclined ledge 20 which, through the medium of a suitable bracket 21, is secured to the rear wall 22 of the vending machine and thence onto the shelf 16 to be held in the position indicated in outline between the edge of the incline ledge 20 and the strip 10.

The halls are indicated by the numeral-23* and after the shelf 16 has been operated in a manner to be hereinafter described, the balls drop upon the inclined bottom piece 24 which is positioned in the bottom of the vending machine and they therefore roll into the open box-like portion of the machine from which they may be taken at will by the player, it being understood that a certain number of balls are dispensed each time that a coin is inserted in the coin drop. The ball vending machine may be provided with the legs 25, if desired, or it may be built directly into a counter or into any amusement game in connection with which it is employed.

The ends of the strips 10 are suitably secured in the partition 12 in one end, and at their other end, are secured in any suitable manner to the end wall of the machine so that they are rigid and are spaced the proper distance apart so that the balls cannot be removed between them. Also, the lower strip 10 is the sole support, in the absence of a retaining detent, of the shelf 16 to which strip the latter is hingedly secured, as before mentioned.

In the operation of my device, it will be presumed that the balls 23 occupy the shelf 16 in the ball compartment and are ready to be vended into the open space of the vending machine so that they may be used by the player, it being understood that the balls are automatically returned from the point of play to the vending machine after they have operated a suitable scoring mechanism, as is common at amusement resorts. A coin is dropped through the coin passage or drop 7, the coin being indicated by the numeral 26 in Figure '3, until it comes to rest upon the metallic coin contact arm 27 which has secured therein the metal pivot pin 28 whichpasses through the opposite sides of an arm 29 one side of which constitutes a coin drop arm 30, the opposite side being curved to provide the contact arm 27, before referred to. The arm 30 projects beyond the contact housing 31, which is made of insulating material and which is provided with a central opening 32 in which operates the coin contact arm 27. The end of arm 30 has riveted there- 7 to a piece of insulation as by rivets The pivot pin 28 is arranged to be connected through the medium of a wire 33, see Figure 2, with a source of power .34 and this power or current travels through the coin contact arm 27 and through the coin 26 to a pin 35 which is secured in the housing 31 and immediately below the outlet end of the coin drop 7. The tip end of the coin contact arm 27 is also positioned immediately below the lower edge of the coin drop 7 and opposite the pin 35 so that, as illustrated in Figure 3, a rest is provided for the coin 26 which makes contact between the arm 27 and pin 35 and permits the current that comes in on the line 33 to pass through the pin 28 through the contact arm 27, through the coin 26, out through the pin 35, through a wire 36 to a solenoid 37, positioned in the bottom of the vending machine in the mechanism chamber 13. The minus side of the solenoid coil 37 is connected to the return power circuit wire 38 through the wire 39.

The solenoid coil .37 being of the usual construction, is provided with a solenoid core 40,

the upper end of which at one side is extended as at 41 to provide a contact engaging lip which, upon a downward movement of the core 40, presses against the spring contact arm 42 and causes it to complete a circuit through the contact arm 43, the arms 42 and 43 being suitably insulated as at 44 from each other, while the arm 43 is bracketed at one end as at 45 to be suitably supported on the rear wall of the vending machine housing. The arm 43 is connected by the wire 46 to the plus side of the power source while the upper arm 42 is connected through the medium of the wire 47 with a counting mechanism or other device used in the game and which has not been shown, it being the purpose of the mechanism to cut off the operation of the counter and return it to Zero after a coin has been dropped in the slot so that the player cannot cheat by drawing an additional ball. after he has already used up one set of balls to play a particular game.

In order that the solenoid may operate to vend the balls 23, the upper endof the sole? noid is connected through the medium of the spring 48 with the under side of a detent arm 49, the spring 48 passing through an opening 50 in the shelf 16. The detent arm 49 at one end is turned down at 51 and is connected by the spring 52 to the free end of the shelf 16. The detent arm 49 is hinged as at 53 to the shelf 16 and the detent or upstanding portion 54 of the arm arranged to lie behind the upper end of a detent stop strip 55 which is secured to the partition 12. The detent 54 is held in the position illustrated in Figure 3 through the medium of the spring 52. As soon, however, as the circuit has been completed by the coin 26 and the solenoid operates, it will quickly pull down the core 40 with the result that the spring 48 will be tensioned and will overcome the tension of the spring 52 tilting the detent arm 49 until the upper end of the detent 54 is disengaged from the detent strip 55 with the result that continued tension of the'spring 48 and the operation of the shelf 16 by reason of said tension will drop the balls onto the inclined bottom 24.

The shelf 16 is provided with an open ended slot 57 to provide for the relative movement of the depending portion 51 of the detent arm 49. This detent arm, when it is held in its normal raised position and the shelf is in a position to receive the balls as they come off the ledge 20, maintains in contact, thecontactarms 58 and 59 and a circuitbetween the arms is provided through the medium of the wires 60 and 61 which lead from the plug sideofthe power source so that the counting mechanism or other mechanism controlled by the contacts 58 and 59 may be always in operation when the shelf 16 is in its raised, ball receiving position. As soon as the shelf 16 tilts, operation of the coin contact arm 27 isprovided through the medium of an extension 63 which is formed on the turned down portion 51 of the detent arm 49 and which contacts with the under side ofinsulator piece of coin drop arm 30, raising the arm 27 to release the coin.

A pin 66 is also employed in the housing 31 upon which the extended coindrop arm 30 may rest in its normal position, the arm 30 acting in the nature of a counterweight so that the pivotal movement of the contact arm is positive. The coin drop 7 is held in position in the receptacle or holder 31 through the medium of the screws 67. V r

The spring 68 holds the shelf 16 up in its normal position but the spring 48 is strong enou h to overcome the action'of the s rim- 2: t D

68 when the solenoid core operates. i

The coin passage may be tortuous so that the operation of the machine cannot be initiated by insertion of a piece of metal to bridge the contacts. 7 i r When the coin is droppedinto the coin chute 7 and completes the circuit to the solenoid, the rapid operation of the solenoid extends the spring 48 and then pulls down the detent strip 49, disengaging the detent 54 and permitting the shelf to be pulled down by the spring 48, which action has permitted the springcontact 59 to come away from its companion contact 58 and the circuit to the counting mechanism is broken and no further recording thereof may beaccomplished. When the solenoid reaches its lower position, and contacts the members '42 and 43, the current is again completed to the counting mechanism and on this second completion of current, mechanism within the counting device may be so operated that it will restore all of the counting devices to their Zero positionl l-This forms nopart'of my in-.v vention and the operation of the switches is illustrated forxthe purpose of showing that a currentcan be controlled during the open ationv of the vending m achine by the moving part ,thereof; It will-be understood, of course, that when'the solenoid starts its. downward.movement, its movement is; so quick that it will drop its full distancenn- :der. the initial .force given it by the energizas tion of the coil 3,? andwill momentarilycontact;the parts 42 and-43 even, after the coin contact arm 27 has been moved to, a position to, permit the coins to. drop between. it and thepin 35 and into-the coin receptacle: 14. Theaction of the spring 68, then, will overcome the action of the spring 48 in concert with the de-energized coil, core and will pull, theshelf back up to its normal position and at the same time, the detent 54 riding over 7 the face of the detent strip 55 will come to the upperend thereof and will snap into pof-a sit'ion behind it, as illustrated inFigure s 2 and 3 and the mechanism will, at that time,

be restored to its normal operating'position ,It is evident also that have p rovideda machine,-the construction of which is simple and which is foolproof and which will quickly dispense balls sothat the game may be operated as rapidly as possible and'therefore increase theincome or revenue'of a battery of machines as employedinan amusement resort. V

It isevident alsotha tmy dispensing deviceis applicable to other types of machines and it is also evident that the wiring may be changed to perform other work upon com pleting of circuits and separation of contacts.

1 as described.

While I have illustrated and described my invention with'some degree of particularity, I realize that in practice various alterations therein may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is 1.- A ball vending-machine comprising a ball shelf, a latch. for sustaining the shelf inball supporting'position, a solenoid for 7 moving the shelf to non-supporting position,

a coin drop, a contact arm, a pin'coacting with the contact. arm to provide a coin seat, a

circuit including the solenoid, the arm and the pin and completed by said coin, and means for moving the contact arm for unseating the coin and breaking said circuit.

2. A ball vending machine comprising a tiltable ball supporting shelf, a detent member hinged to the shelf, a strip with which said detent engages to hold the shelf in ball supporting position, contacts arranged to be bridged by a coin to complete a circuit, a solenoid in the circuit, means for moving one of the contacts to permit passage of the coin, and break of the circuit, a switch held closed by the detent member when the shelf is in supporting position, the solenoid acting to disengage the detent and strip to tilt said shelf, and a switch arranged to be engaged and closed by the solenoid upon a detent disengaging action thereof.

3. A ball vending machine comprising a ball shelf, means for sustaining the shelf in ball supporting position including a latch hinged to said shelf, and a detent strip engageable by said latch, a coin control mechanism including a solenoid for disengaging said latch and strip to drop the shelf to nonsupporting position, and a switch engageable by the solenoid in its latch disengaging movement to complete a circuit.

4. A ball vending machine comprising a ball shelf, means for sustaining the shelf in ball supporting position including a latch hinged to said shelf and a detent strip engageable by said latch, a coin control mechanism including a solenoid for disengaging the latch and strip to drop the shelf to nonsupporting position, a coin drop, a contact arm, a pin coacting with the contact arm to provide a coin seat, a circuit including the solenoid, the arm and the pin and completed by the coin, and means for moving the contact arm for unseating the coin and breaking the circuit.

In testimony whereof I have signed no name to this specification this 28th day of October, 1929.

JOHN E. CRADDOCK. [L. s.] 

